Track day in car footage, broke wheel stud!

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B16

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Ah yes.

So a few weeks ago I was at the Llihrednuht track day wth NASA. All day Saturday was just fine. Then on the 2nd to last session on Sunday I broke a wheel stud in turn 1. It wasn't too eventful, felt like I blew a tire. The car was instantly difficult to keep turning, but luckily I was right by the hot pit entrance, so I decided to pit immediately. I was lucky to only break one stud and not all 4 losing the wheel like most people have. These were brand new ARP studs, I'm almost wondering if they were installed improperly? Ah well, sucks because I was having a really fun day. Here is a pic of what it looks like now. You can see it sheared at the hub. Also, here is some incar footage from that session. At about 6:37 is where the drama unfolds. I was just about to pass that instructor in his S2000! You can see I had been catching up to him in this session. :)

http://www.norcalmotorsports.org/users/video/thunderhill/101108/thillOct08brokeStud.mov



brokeStud.jpg
 
damn good driving as usual.. is that still the b16, or the R?
 
Still the B16.

I should have checked the torque after each session. This was my first time out with these ARP studs. :(

Thanks for the compliments though. :)
 
thats crazy. did you go back and look for the other half? lol
 
thats crazy. did you go back and look for the other half? lol
LOL, no. Funny though, the instructor in that S2000 I was about to pass said "I'm glad it didn't break when you were in front of me". lol, ass..
 
Nice vid, smooth driving and your b16 sounds great. too bad for the stud, nothing got damaged right?
 
Nice vid, smooth driving and your b16 sounds great. too bad for the stud, nothing got damaged right?
thanks!

no damage, just the stud. thank goodness.
 
The lugs correct for the wheels? studs go to that specific application? They look way way too long.. Certain they were real ARPs and not some chinese knock offs?

Its hard to believe an arp wheel lug would snap just from cornering.. I could see an impact doing some damage, but I've never even snapped a factory stud and I've done some very hard driving in my days. It had to have been torqued improperly or something.. Just doesn't seem right.
 
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never thought of that. ive swapped my wheels for two seasons.... probably 45 events not to mention maintenance and ive never snapped an OEM stud.

i'd like longer ones though :)
 
1 in a million i guess. Things fail, its just how often. ARP is proven many times over, it could have been a defect.
 
The lugs correct for the wheels? studs go to that specific application? They look way way too long.. Certain they were real ARPs and not some chinese knock offs?

Its hard to believe an arp wheel lug would snap just from cornering.. I could see an impact doing some damage, but I've never even snapped a factory stud and I've done some very hard driving in my days. It had to have been torqued improperly or something.. Just doesn't seem right.
Yes, correct lugs for the wheels and the correct studs. They appear long because they're ARP's extended studs. I'm certain they're not knockoffs.

My hypothesis is this. A few of the studs may not have seated all the way during installation. During the driving, stress pulled the stud in further, seating it completely. And thus loosening the lug and putting too much stress on it. A few of the other lugs were loose. I think it might actually be a testament to the strength of the ARP studs that the rest on that hub did not shear off from the amount of stress/jerk that must have occurred when the single one failed.

I had been open tracking on OEM studs for years and never had a problem. I'm guessing this was just installation error?
 
that was awsome, i would love to race in one of those one days, i imagine they get ridf of a ton of ur stress and have to be a ton of fun .

sry abut the stud breaking though, could be worse i guess
 
that video is great, your little b16a takes everything you give it and sounds so nice and smooth. after watching that it really makes me want to try road racing. i live 20 mins from moroso so im going to look into it.
 
Do it! its more addictive than crack. :D Yes, the B16a3 takes a beating. It has 175k miles on it and all it is used for is track days now. Rode hard and put away wet. :) Its been extremely reliable.

I'm also a NASA instructor, so I enjoy getting people hooked into this "drug". :)
 
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